Money for Nothing

You all knew I would post something about baseball and with the end of the season it seems a good time to reflect on the Yankee's situation.

It has not been fun being a Yankee fan the last few years. It's not about the results. I don't expect them to win the World Series every year or even be in the World Series every year. For most baseball fans and for most teams the Yankees recent results would be more than satisfactory. They have been in the playoffs every year since 1996 and they have won 10 division championships, 6 AL pennants and 4 World Series. In addition the team is exciting to watch. Attending a game at Yankee stadium recalls the atmosphere at a rock concert.

We have also had some continuity - what my friend Barry calls "real Yankees" - players so familiar we only need to use their first names; e.g Bernie, Derek, Andy, Mariano and Jorge.

So what's the complaint?

It's hard to have fun routing for a team that is stupid.

The Yankees have more resources and spend way more than anyone else. I don't have the exact numbers (maybe Dave will do the research) but I estimate that they spend $40 million more than the #2 the Red Sox. That's an enormous advantage. Ir is equivalent to replacing Jeter and A-Rod with minor leaguers. Their advantage over the other teams such as the Indians, Tigers, Angels, Marlins, D-Backs is even more striking. In some case, the Yankee spending advantage was over $100 million. BTW - those are the other teams the Yankees have lost in the post-season this decade.

To me with an advantage that large the team should be odds-on favorites every year to win the World Series. They may not win every year but if the lose it would be considered an upset. That's not what we are getting. The 2007 and 2004 Red Sox, 2007 Indians, 2006 Tigers, 2005 Angels have been as good as the Yankees. And it is clear now that the Red Sox are better. They were favored to win this year and they avoided their former habit as a team that folds in the second-half.

So my peeve is that the Yankees throw away this advantage because they make stupid decisions. We have to hold Cashman responsible. He's the problem not Torre. I have played in a Rotiss league for about 20 years. In this league each team has equal resources and you gain advantage by using your resources effectively. Csshman and the Yankees throw away their enormous advantage by consistently overpaying for players. The most typical examples are paying for players past their prime, e.g. John Damon, Mike Mussina, Bobby Abreu, Randy Johnson, Matsui, etc. This clogs the roster with untradeable players if their performance slips as can be expected. This is compounded by the inability to evaluate talent. The moves that Cashman made before the 2005 season may represent the worse off-season by any GM in memory. That was the year Cashman brought in Pavano, Wright, Tino Martinez and Tony Womack. Money for Nothing.

And nothing is being learned. The Clemens deal proved Cashman is hapless. It was evident that if they were lucky they would get a mid-level starter who was a 6-inning pitcher and who had a huge downside due to injury risk.

Last year the Yankees added the useless-Igawa while the Red Sox acquired Dice-K and Okajima. And that is symbolic of the main worry. The Red Sox will also spend but they may have a clue. They had the Rookie of the Year, the best Rookie starting pitcher and the best Rookie setup man. They are better than the Yankees and they are younger.

My only conciliation is that I don't have the YES network.